Llanllyfni - Gazetteers

"LLANLLYFNI, a parish in the hundred of Uwch-Gorfai, county Carnarvon, 6 miles S. of Carnarvon, its post town, and 13 N.E. of Nevin. It is situated to the W. of Snowdon, and is watered by the river Llyfni, which rises in Lake Nanlle, flows through here, and empties itself into Carnarvon Bay. Here are copper and manganese mines, also slate quarries, which afford employment to the people. There is a tram-road to Carnarvon for the transit of the products of the mines. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bangor, value £240, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Rhedyw, is an ancient edifice built in the form of a cross. In this parish is an old house built on the site of one inhabited by Edward I., who is said to have made a stay here in 1284. There are remains of dwellings supposed to have been those of the first inhabitants,- also of an ancient camp by the river."

"PEN-Y-GROES, a hamlet in the parish of Llanllyfni, hundred of Isgorfai, in county Carnarvon, 5 miles S. by E. of Carnarvon. It is a station on the Carnarvon and Nantlle railway. It is situated near Lake Nantlle, under Mynydd Mawr and Graig Goch."

LLANLLYVNI (LLAN-LLYVNI), a parish composed of the Upper and Lower divisions, in the hundred of UWCHGORVAI, county of CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 7 miles (S. by W.) from Carnarvon, containing 1571 inhabitants. The name of this place is derived from its situation on the river Llyvni, which rises in the Nanlle lakes, in the upper part of the parish, and, after a short course, falls into Carnarvon bay. The parish extends from three to four miles in length, and from one to two miles in breadth, and comprises a tract of which a very considerable portion was formerly common and waste land, though a great part of it has of late years been enclosed, and many houses have been built upon the former wastes. The surrounding scenery is strikingly diversified ; and in the upper part of the parish are two fine lakes, called Nanlle, one of which is more than half a mile in length and nearly a quarter of a mile broad; and the other, nearly adjoining it, is of equal breadth, but not quite so long. These lakes, which add greatly to the beauty of the scenery, formerly abounded with fish of superior quality; but the quantity has been greatly diminished by the influx of water from the copper-works in the vicinity. There are also two smaller lakes in the mountainous part of the parish, called respectively Llyn Cwm Silin and Llyn Cwm Dulyn, both of which afford better sport to the angler. One side of the parish is bounded by a fine range of mountains, the appearance of which is highly picturesque ; and the lofty mountain of Snowdon, though eight miles distant, is seen with more strikingly romantic beauty from the parsonage-house, in this parish, than from any other point in the county. The village is pleasantly situated on the turnpike road from Carnarvon to Tremadoc, from the former of which the inhabitants receive their letters. The parish, in common with the adjacent country, abounds with mineral wealth : beds of slate, intersected by veins of copper, extend through the whole of it, in a direction from south-west to north-east : manganese of superior quality has been recently discovered, and considerable quantities are shipped for Liverpool. The principal copper-works are those of Simdda Dylluan and Gwernoer ; but the mines are not at present so extensively worked as formerly. The slate quarries were also worked some years ago, upon a very extensive scale, but the quantity of slates now procured is considerably less than formerly. A rail-road, eight miles in length, has been laid down from the quarries to the port of Carnarvon, for the conveyance of the slates and other mineral produce to that port, where they are shipped for their several destinations.

The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Bangor, rated in the king's books at £7. 17. 6., endowed with £ 200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Bangor. The church is dedicated to St. Rhedyw, whose tomb within it was destroyed about fifty years ago ; but his memory is still preserved in the name of a well called Fynnon Rhedyw, and in that of a stone called Eisteddva Rhedyw. It is a spacious cruciform structure, supposed to have been enlarged into its present form about the year 1032, which date was discovered above the east window of the chancel, while repairing it some years ago. Above the window of the Eithinog chapel, in this church, is an image of St. Rhedyw, which was formerly held in great veneration, but is now nearly defaced. There are two places of worship each for Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists. No Druidical monuments are actually remaining in the parish, but the existence of such within its limits at some former period is indicated by the names of various fields, such as Y Gistvaen, Cae y cynghor, Tal y garnedd, &c. On the banks of the river Llyvni are the remains of an ancient fortification, called Craig y Dinas, but whether of Roman or British origin it is not easy to determine : it is about a mile from Pont y Cern, and comprises an area of about two acres, inaccessible, owing to the precipitousness of the ascent, on the side next the river, and defended on the others by two walls of stone, with a fosse between them. In the upper part of this, and also in the neighbouring parishes, are numerous remains of the dwellings of the aboriginal inhabitants, commonly called Cyttian 'r Gwyddelod, or the " Irishmen's Huts :" they are either circular or elliptical in form, and generally from five to six yards in diameter : several of them are groupcd together within a quadrangular area, enclosed by a single, and in some instances by a double, wall ; and they also occur occasionally in concentric circles, and when cleared are generally found to contain great quantities of ashes. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £397. 5.

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